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Gbaja-Biamila, Packers DLineman was released?!

Why? Anybody have any idea why this happened? I thought this dude was pretty good. Was it just a salary related move? Apparently their first round pick from a year or two ago was brought off the PUP list and KGB was who they got rid of. It seems weird in the middle of the season to make that kind of move...

Re: Gbaja-Biamila, Packers DLineman was released?!

I saw that too, supposedly he would've counted 6-7mill on them. I think he gets it all, maybe they did it so they could finish the Aaron Rodgers contract. I wouldn't mike scooping him up, dude has the same name as my son!

Re: Gbaja-Biamila, Packers DLineman was released?!

KGB's release makes room for younger ends
By Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel
Nov. 1, 2008 2:28 p.m. | Green Bay -- The decision of the Green Bay Packers to release defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila was made because the pass rusher's effectiveness had diminished and younger prospects like rookie Jeremy Thompson and Mike Montgomery were deserving of more snaps.

According to one source, there was no hidden motive behind the release, it was based strictly on a decision to go with the younger prospects.

The emergence of Thompson, a fourth-round pick from Wake Forest, made the end position very crowded and during the middle of the week Gbaja-Biamila seemed to see the writing on the wall when he received only a smattering of snaps in practice. At one point, he had to ask to get in on the scout team just to get a few snaps.

Gbaja-Biamila hasn't been the same since undergoing knee surgery May 29 to repair torn meniscus in his right knee. He struggled to make it through training camp, missing three consecutive weeks of practice and games, but was healthy enough to play in the opener.

He never regained his explosive burst, however, and it showed in his inability to get pressure on the quarterback. He had a half sack against Detroit and just two quarterback hits in seven games. He was playing between 25 and 30 snaps through the first six weeks, then played about 40 against Indianpolis.

Despite rushing the passer all day long, he didn't create pressure, which might have convinced general manager Ted Thompson that his time was up. According to at least one personnel man who saw him play, he wasn't the same player he was a year ago.

"I think last year he had a pretty nice year in terms of pressures," the scout said. "This year, he never got back to that. When you're a guy who's just a pass rusher, you have to jump off the ball. He wasn't doing that."

Still, the Packers could have waited to see if "KGB's" knee got stronger as the season wore on and released end Kenny Pettway, who was signed off the street when end Jason Hunter injured a hamstring. But Pettway has been very good on special teams and with the return of Hunter this week, the Packers have two big men with excellent speed running down the field on the coverage team.

Pettway has played sparingly from the line of scrimmage, but he does have burst.

Thompson, meanwhile, came out of nowhere to become a potential full-time starter. He was inactive the first four games of the season, then played tentatively against Atlanta. But the following week he was much more active against Seattle, enough that he was the starter at right end against Indianapolis and may be the starter against Tennessee on Sunday.

Also, Montgomery, who took Cullen Jenkins' place as the starter at right end but sprained his ankle and missed two games, is back at full strength and is set to play Sunday.

The Packers will gain no salary cap savings as a result of releasing Gbaja-Biamila because, as a tenured veteran, his base salary of $6.15 million became guaranted when he made the 53-man roster the first week of the season. He is owed about $3.25 million for the rest of the season.

The only way the Packers wouldn't be on the hook for that money would be if a team claimed him off waivers in the next 48 hours. The team that claimed him would be responsible for the remainder of his salary. It's unlikely he'll be picked up because most interested teams are going to want to bring him in and examine his knee.

The Packers will take a $1.57 million cap hit next season for the pro-rated portion of the guaranteed money in Gbaja-Biamila's seven year, $37.3 million contract signed in 2004.

Re: Gbaja-Biamila, Packers DLineman was released?!

I don't think KGB would be a good fit for you guys but I hope we take a look at him. He's knee might not be the same but the one sack he has this season would put him as one of our top 5 sackers. Although he appears to be kind of DE that Denver would be interested in...